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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.